Seeing, Recognising & Maintaining One's Enlightening Potential

[C T]

I am not really impressed by someone who can turn the floor into the ceiling or fire into water.

                           A real miracle is if someone can liberate just one negative emotion.

 

 

                                          ~ Lerab Lingpa ~

[blue eyed snake]

 

I am not really impressed by someone who can turn the floor into the ceiling or fire into water.

                           A real miracle is if someone can liberate just one negative emotion.

 

 

                                          ~ Lerab Lingpa ~

 

 

 

[manitou]

changing from negative energy into positive energy in my opinion is a crowning achievement of a lifetime.  A lifetime is not wasted, we have danced with whom we have come here to dance.

[doc benway]

Changing a pattern that has plagued us for decades...

These methods are truly victorious!

A HO!

[C T]

Anatta explained.

 

[manitou]

CT - I'm only about 35 minutes in, but he mentioned a word something like 'miniters' or minitars just before he approached speaking of the Jhanas.  What are those?  Is it a phase of meditation?

 

 

Edit:   I just finished listening to the talk.  E ma ho.  How wonderful!

 

It brings to mind a moment I remember, when I was maybe 8 years old, walking home from maybe the second grade in school in Hollywood.  I remember stopping on a square of cement, staring down at the cement, and losing the world for a moment.  All I could think was, 'my soul is tired'.  What an odd thing for an 8 year old to think.  My entire life has been in pursuit of the Truth, even in my chosen profession.  That memory creates for me a link from there to here, how it's all been really the same dynamic.  The continuation of the cycle, and how tired my soul is, and wanting it to stop.

 

I wonder about the purpose of this, as though this is a question that can be answered.  About why us beings are put into this strange life of phenomena, wherein transcending phenomena seems to be the desired result.  What for?  Is it, as he says, to come back, after peeling one's self through the Jhanas, to have a different perspective on life and being, as the tadpole who sprouts legs and leaves the pond for the first time, to realize what water is; to know what wetness finally is?  BTW, would that be boddacitta, the moment in time where the frog is confused, has jumped onto land for the first time, and is totally open to impression, prior to conclusion?

 

What's the point, I ask myself often?  We are, at our center, perfection.  Conditioning changes all that.  Why must we develop will and conditioning, only to learn to lose it to return to what we had in the beginning?  He says we are reborn because we want to be reborn, because we have Will to be reborn.  The question that recurs is Why?  Is life merely evolving?  Is that the point?  Evolution, and nothing more?

 

Is love the purpose?  As he says in his talk, "May all beings be happy and well".  What a perfect point in time for us to practice this.  In this age of instantaneous communication, where we can see and judge what is going on in all corners of the world, and even more imminently in our upcoming presidential election - how difficult it is to cut loose of opinion and judgment, particularly of those high profile people in our political circles.  I cannot believe that so many people appear to be so blind, and yet that is such a judgmental thing for me to say or think.  "May all beings be happy and well".  What a challenge, to merge our inner life with our outer life at this point in time - to walk our talk, to not judge, to be willing to give up Will, as he so succinctly put in his lecture.  To just be happy to let things go as they are going to go.  I get comfort in knowing that the 3 times are Now in actuality, and that all this has already occurred, in a sense.  that there is nothing to get aggravated over.  I waffle between the two.

 

And yet, if peace is to be re-found, this is what must be done.  When I am in a place of peace, I realize that I am but a point of awareness moving through space; much as the spark plug is the point of awareness moving through space with a car around it.  And from what he is saying, at the end of the Jhana journey, even Awareness has dissolved.

 

And then there is a return?  Is that what he is saying?  Is that the point where the perspective has fully changed?  Is it replaced with joy of being?  Is that the point of all of it?  Or is pointlessness the point?

Edited July 4, 2016 by manitou

[9th]

What's the point, I ask myself often?  We are, at our center, perfection.  Conditioning changes all that.  Why must we develop will and conditioning, only to learn to lose it to return to what we had in the beginning?  He says we are reborn because we want to be reborn, because we have Will to be reborn.  The question that recurs is Why?  Is life merely evolving?  Is that the point?  Evolution, and nothing more?

 

To serve a purpose, you must be of service.  To be of service, you must become useful. To become useful, you must discover your uselessness.  To discover your uselessness you must choose to have no choice.

 

There is a thoroughness in the process of living and dying and being reborn which cannot be comprehended within the confines of a mind that clings to this life alone.  It does indeed have a definite aim which is all too clear within the mind that is beyond this life alone.  

 

To resolve the eternal within the temporary and the temporary within the eternal and bridge all the connections between them is no small task, no small endeavor.  

 

Humanity as a species has its own agenda which follows a timeline appropriate for a species.  Your internal being has an agenda which follows a timeline appropriate for such a being.

[manitou]

Wow, 9th.  Nice!  thank you!  the tumblers clicked into place on that one.

 

(P.S. If time is the musician's canvas, elimination of potentiality is the modality)

[C T]

CT - I'm only about 35 minutes in, but he mentioned a word something like 'miniters' or minitars just before he approached speaking of the Jhanas.  What are those?  Is it a phase of meditation?

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the talk, Manitou. 

 

This will give you an idea of what nimittas are:

http://journal.samatha.org/issues/issue-9/reflections-nature-nimitta

[manitou]

Thanks for the link, CT.  That explains the 3 dimensional black and white bubbles.

Edited July 4, 2016 by manitou

[doc benway]

I really enjoy this little refuge of authenticity and devotion.

_/\_

[manitou]

To serve a purpose, you must be of service.  To be of service, you must become useful. To become useful, you must discover your uselessness.  To discover your uselessness you must choose to have no choice.

 

There is a thoroughness in the process of living and dying and being reborn which cannot be comprehended within the confines of a mind that clings to this life alone.  It does indeed have a definite aim which is all too clear within the mind that is beyond this life alone.  

 

To resolve the eternal within the temporary and the temporary within the eternal and bridge all the connections between them is no small task, no small endeavor.  

 

Humanity as a species has its own agenda which follows a timeline appropriate for a species.  Your internal being has an agenda which follows a timeline appropriate for such a being.

 

 

 

I just have to expand on this.  I can't tell you how deeply this has affected me.  Please forgive me for breaking the flow of this thread by introducing a personal story, but I think it is really pertinent here.  It has to do with Service.

 

Prior to our move to Ohio from Ojai, California about 8 years ago, I was a regular at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.  I have been long time sober, it will be 35 years in December.  Finding old-timers at AA meetings is somewhat of a rarity, and when you do find one, it is truly having a jewel in the room.  Finding sobriety and beginning to work the inner dynamics of the 12 steps to recovery tends to place one's feet on this path that we are all on, here on this thread.

 

When we moved to Ohio, I found that the meetings were a little too 'street' for my tastes, and we both stopped going.  No harm done as far as our own sobriety, but I realized today, after 9th's post, that I have not been Of Service the way I used to be when I was going to meetings, giving back to the structure that had placed my feet on this path that leads to enlightenment.

 

But it was after reading the above post that I realized just how much was missing from my life.  My sense of purpose has been missing;  yes, life has been good, I've been close to nature, I've been gardening, reading - but not giving back.  It's as though all the blessings that were given to me by those who were there for me when I first got sober have been dammed up inside, not free flowing.  I realized this the moment I read 9th's post.  His words shot me like an arrow in the heart.

 

I went down to the AA meeting house in town today, but there was nobody there, probably because it was July 4th.  Because I didn't sleep well last night, I took a nap when I got back.  I had an incredible lucid dream of my beautiful red Arabian horse, Tango, that I used to own and ride in Ojai.  She had escaped her corral, the gate was open; but I heard her hoofbeats in the distance and sure enough she came running up to me, rubbing me with her chest.  I could smell her in my dream; I could feel the warmth of her under my hand on her back.

 

the funny thing is, she always hated having a bridle put on her.  She would toss her head around and hated anybody touching her ears.  But in my dream, my beautiful lucid dream, she put her head down and offered her head to me, actually opening her mouth for the bit to go in; I had no problem getting the strap over her ears, she gently allowed it.

 

I just now realized that my horse is a representation of AA for me.  She is my conveyance, my way to open the dam and let the Service return.  The stage is all set for me - how simple!  how wonderful!  And for me to think that the meeting back here were 'too street' for my tastes?  Please.  Give me a break.  It's not like I was any beautiful smelling rose when I walked through those doors 34 years ago.

 

I am excited about this.  I just want to go, sit there, allow healing presence, return to my roots.  although I have thanked you in a PM, 9th, I thank you again here - for seeing what needed to be seen, and shooting an arrow that totally landed and hit its mark on the first shot.

 

Service.

[doc benway]

Service.

 

Service

_/\_

[C T]

8

Edited July 4, 2016 by C T

[Bud Jetsun]

And then there is a return? Is that what he is saying? Is that the point where the perspective has fully changed? Is it replaced with joy of being? Is that the point of all of it? Or is pointlessness the point?

 

Nothing un-human-construct-delusion is lost or gained. My wife crashed her Mt bike in front of me today riding up a Croatian castles ruins this afternoon. I saw her smiling as she tumbled down some rocks with only a bicycle helmet on for protection. Smiling and laughing getting up, and still choosing to enjoy the sensations the scrapes and bruises offered her.

 

Life offers some range of sensory phenomenas. The greater the breadth of phenomena scale experienced, the greater the capacity to relate

 

You are the singular person capable of hurting yourself through choosing to interpret some nerve receptor signals fearfully rather than with gratitude for this one moments beautiful range of phenomena experiences.

 

If you can still draw a breath, this is enough reason to be grateful for the state of your sensory phenomena experience. If you cannot draw a breath, this is an equally important time to be appreciative for the always precious seconds left of a life beautiful life experience.

 

Appreciation of this moment is a choice available to every being to the limit of that beings compassion to self. Appreciation of this moment is how we choose to show kindness to ourselves.

 

There is nothing conditional or phenomenon restricted to appreciate. Your body, everyone you've ever known or will know, or has ever been touched, tasted, smelled, seen, or heard will cycle through supermassive black holes being sprayed out as cosmic radiation to decay into much of what we call "nouns" in English.

 

Through your whole life, there was never once something worth giving your peace inside.

 

Unlimited Love,

-Bud

Edited July 5, 2016 by Bud Jetsun

[C T]

The Mahayana emphasizes the need to understand the complete nature of all phenomena. It is a view of “wholeness.”

 

Ordinarily, the mind merely connects with appearances: the appearance of forms, sounds, thoughts, feelings, and so on. We then make assumptions based on how things appear, how they sound, how they feel. This is a very subtle moment: this moment of grasping at some impression, clinging to it, and in that grasping and clinging, immediately articulating an assumption.

 

Simply put: If we do not take time to fully understand what we see, hear, think, or feel, then our understanding will tend to arise from fleeting moments that can only produce assumptions, all of which are based on what we stand to gain or lose in the moment. This builds up sediments of deluded perception which further obstruct the view of things as they are in their true nature. 

 

It is not the sights, sounds, thoughts, and feelings that are deluded; you create delusions, through the speed of making biased assumptions. When the mind has no time to open up to the wholeness, or completeness, of appearances, the sediment of delusion settles into “good” and “bad” assumptions. And at that point, every form, sound, thought, and other sensation you relate is dominated by ego’s personal preferences and convenience.

 

 

 

The Power of Perception.

 

To understand Mahayana, know that we are talking about perception.
What is meant by the “complete” nature of perception? What makes a sound or thought “whole”? Are they merely what you imagine them to be, or is there more to it? Our judgments and opinions about appearances are very powerful, in that they become causes that bring about effects. The karma we create builds a sphere of experience for ourselves and for the world at large. Karma is propelled by our opinions and judgments, and when those opinions and judgments are not sane, they bring about negative karma.

 

No one intends to create negative karma. But a mind that does not perceive things sanely, or wholly, churns out unending amounts of karma. And karma dominated by ego’s biased views, preferences, and conveniences becomes negative karma —simply by not seeing things clearly and completely.

 

~ Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche ~ 

Edited July 11, 2016 by C T

[C T]

In order to cope better with our own roller coaster of emotions, the starting point is to develop equanimity. In the Buddhist tradition it's not a question of contriving or manufacturing equanimity. It's nothing to do with positive thinking, or blotting out the negative, or making affirmations. Equanimity is a discovery. It is discovered to be ever present. Underneath our roller coaster experience of pain, pleasure, happiness and dissatisfaction is the basic ground of our being, which is equanimity.

 

Equanimity means the absence of evaluation. Usually we are unable to look at the situation or deal with anybody without superimposing our own value judgments or subjective evaluations. We never see situations as they simply are. Our value judgments colour our understanding of the world and other people. Usually when we meet someone, even while we are in the midst of conversation, we are drawing our conclusions. Then we go away with a fixed impression that he is like this and like that. We project onto people rather than relate to them as they are.

 

From the viewpoint of equanimity, no one is a downright enemy, or an everlasting friend. There are no real ultimate friends or enemies at all. As long as we look for friends we are bound to have enemies. The two exist simultaneously. We want to possess and have friends, which is why we create enemies. It is because we have the attitude of enmity towards others, we can have friends as well.

 

So equanimity is the key which unlocks the whole toolbox of spiritual development. It gives us access to the enormous diversity of tools available to anyone who wants to be more effective, capable, loving and compassionate. Equanimity is the start of the spiritual path.

 

Equanimity is not apathy. It is not a fatalistic indifference to what is going on. Equanimity is being completely open to reality so we can directly experience things as they are, rather than interpreting everything and making it into a second hand experience.

 

 

~ Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche ~ 

Edited July 11, 2016 by C T

[blue eyed snake]

thank you CT,

these are a lot of words together conveying what my teacher means when he tells me : you just stay in an observing modus.

 

and more and more i begin to see what he means by it, and I think it's not only in interaction with ' others' but also in how one looks at herself,

 

Bes

[C T]

thank you CT,

these are a lot of words together conveying what my teacher means when he tells me : you just stay in an observing modus.

 

and more and more i begin to see what he means by it, and I think it's not only in interaction with ' others' but also in how one looks at herself,

 

Bes

 

Yes, maintaining the observer status can be very helpful most times, so your teacher is obviously very wise. 

 

Of course in theory it sounds quite an easy task, but in practice it may prove challenging - even for seasoned practitioners. 

 

Also, in Vajrayana it is encouraged that one who notices the observer will then try to 'unfollow' even that mode after it has been found that the observer only exist as the observed, and both are dependent on each other.

 

Traleg Rinpoche points to equanimity as the discovery of beingness that eventually replaces any dependently arising notions which is very helpful to avoid being stuck in observer mode. Any form of stuckness can impact on the sustenance of dualistic views. 

Edited July 11, 2016 by C T

[blue eyed snake]

equanimity sort of describes my teacher,

 

I think I've gotten a hunch what you, or better Traleg Rinpoche, mean by it,

thank you for giving the words for the processes going on.

 

for know practicing observing is enough of a task, and it seems there'll always be a next step, that's good, keeps one humble

[manitou]

 

The Mahayana emphasizes the need to understand the complete nature of all phenomena. It is a view of “wholeness.”

 

Ordinarily, the mind merely connects with appearances: the appearance of forms, sounds, thoughts, feelings, and so on. We then make assumptions based on how things appear, how they sound, how they feel. This is a very subtle moment: this moment of grasping at some impression, clinging to it, and in that grasping and clinging, immediately articulating an assumption.

 

Simply put: If we do not take time to fully understand what we see, hear, think, or feel, then our understanding will tend to arise from fleeting moments that can only produce assumptions, all of which are based on what we stand to gain or lose in the moment. This builds up sediments of deluded perception which further obstruct the view of things as they are in their true nature. 

 

It is not the sights, sounds, thoughts, and feelings that are deluded; you create delusions, through the speed of making biased assumptions. When the mind has no time to open up to the wholeness, or completeness, of appearances, the sediment of delusion settles into “good” and “bad” assumptions. And at that point, every form, sound, thought, and other sensation you relate is dominated by ego’s personal preferences and convenience.

 

 

 

The Power of Perception.

 

To understand Mahayana, know that we are talking about perception.

What is meant by the “complete” nature of perception? What makes a sound or thought “whole”? Are they merely what you imagine them to be, or is there more to it? Our judgments and opinions about appearances are very powerful, in that they become causes that bring about effects. The karma we create builds a sphere of experience for ourselves and for the world at large. Karma is propelled by our opinions and judgments, and when those opinions and judgments are not sane, they bring about negative karma.

 

No one intends to create negative karma. But a mind that does not perceive things sanely, or wholly, churns out unending amounts of karma. And karma dominated by ego’s biased views, preferences, and conveniences becomes negative karma —simply by not seeing things clearly and completely.

 

~ Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche ~ 

 

 

 

 

I often wonder if dementia isn't a gift granted to us later in life.  As I watch myself, and in particular my mother, lapse into more and more forgetfulness, there arises a loss of clinging to memory, upon which to base assumption and the basis for further developed karma.  The exception to this would be the paranoia that the elderly with dementia can sometimes develop; I see it in my mother.  But she has never given a thought to the fact that her life has been a self created 'story'; once this is realized, then we can develop the control to not engage our stories, and in fact not create them in the first place.  So her paranoia grows.  But the good thing about it, is that a few minutes later she'll forget all about the thing she was paranoid about.

 

I find myself telling myself several times during the day that 'this is just a story'.  I tell myself that when I feel a loss of confidence, or a moment of fear about doing something.  It takes all the fear or loss of confidence out of the situation - to realize that our attitudes about fear, or rejection, or judgment are just that - they are just stories, our attitudes.  A constant mind-stream of a self-created life that is merely a lucid dream of our own projection.

 

A dream within a dream.  And now the Pokemon app has people looking down at their gizmos, walking all over the place looking for virtual critters on their little screens, being unaware of anything but what is happening on their device, and living in yet another virtual reality.  A dream within a dream within a dream.  Wow.

[C T]

I often wonder if dementia isn't a gift granted to us later in life.  As I watch myself, and in particular my mother, lapse into more and more forgetfulness, there arises a loss of clinging to memory, upon which to base assumption and the basis for further developed karma.  The exception to this would be the paranoia that the elderly with dementia can sometimes develop; I see it in my mother.  But she has never given a thought to the fact that her life has been a self created 'story'; once this is realized, then we can develop the control to not engage our stories, and in fact not create them in the first place.  So her paranoia grows.  But the good thing about it, is that a few minutes later she'll forget all about the thing she was paranoid about.

 

I find myself telling myself several times during the day that 'this is just a story'.  I tell myself that when I feel a loss of confidence, or a moment of fear about doing something.  It takes all the fear or loss of confidence out of the situation - to realize that our attitudes about fear, or rejection, or judgment are just that - they are just stories, our attitudes.  A constant mind-stream of a self-created life that is merely a lucid dream of our own projection.

 

A dream within a dream.  And now the Pokemon app has people looking down at their gizmos, walking all over the place looking for virtual critters on their little screens, being unaware of anything but what is happening on their device, and living in yet another virtual reality.  A dream within a dream within a dream.  Wow.

Stories...

 

.... cant live with them, cant live without them. 

 

 

In drama or acting school they teach the aspiring actors and actresses not to get emotionally entangled with the roles they play, and yet, at the same time, to feign authenticity. In real life, i guess some people get so emotionally entangled with the stories that they can no longer not take everything so seriously. Ironically, its that very seriousness that churns out more stories, and as it all wears thin with time, and it will because there's only so many new angles one can generate before the plot gets all fumbled and blur, so does whatever authenticity they had in the beginning begin to wane. 

 

How much simpler and interesting life would be if we truly understood that we possess nothing in fact. Not even this body. Nor the mind. Zero. Absolutely nothing to claim ownership over. 

 

When we finally come to see the truth for what it actually is, we will probably burst out in laughter.

 

Why not... that would be the ultimate freedom, after all. 

Edited July 11, 2016 by C T

[C T]

 

 

“Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another. Indeed, he would have found it difficult to tell, among the many places he had lived, precisely where it was he had felt most at home.”

 

~ Paul Bowles. The Sheltering Sky ~

Edited July 11, 2016 by C T

[manitou]

In one of the countless books i've read, can't remember which, one thing has stuck with me:  "All time and space is yours".  This is a marvelous freedom, when this consciousness can be maintained.  What's to fear, what's to have anxiety about, if we realize that yesterday, today, and tomorrow are happening simultaneously, in the now?  That infers that all actions have already taken place, and we're just playing catch-up at any given time.  And it explains the remnant of karma of our ancestors, handed down through the generations.  It's still here, and it's still now.

 

And to realize that all space is Here, that space is the container in which this illusion of a play is playing out, takes the anxiety out of that too.  Whether we cross the room or cross the world makes no difference; it is all taking place within the same One Space.  The same cosmic soup.  sometimes I think our seeming 'reality' is in essence a weakened place, a bubble of air popping out on an inner tube; where Time and Space is just that little aberration of a bubble on the tube that appears as reality but really isn't....that space wouldn't be space without Time, and Time wouldn't be Time without space.  Rather like the enigma of the particle and the wave within quantum physics.  A particle takes up space, whereas a wave takes up time getting from point A to point B.  And yet this duality is the basic building block of our existence, at least that we've found so far with the instruments of measurement that we currently have.  And how strange that we must live within a philosophical duality as well.  Having to live and function within this strange duality and yet our paths coming into awareness of Oneness at the same time, once the dross of this dual existence has been uncovered.

 

Points of light, is a nice way to look at it.  We're all points of the light of Essence, regardless of how covered with dross our wattage is.  But sometimes when I'm out and about, I do visualize us all as points of light, some merging together, sometimes moving within a crowd - and knowing that it is all the same luminous light.  Like little fireflies....

 

On a good day.

Edited July 12, 2016 by manitou

[C T]

If karma was a simple, linear process, everything would be certain, but it is not! There is always an element of uncertainty, which is a product of the ineffable matrix of interdependent interactions that are at play in any given moment.

 

 

 

If karma was a simple, linear process, everything would be certain, but it is not! There is always an element of uncertainty, which is a product of the ineffable matrix of interdependent interactions that are at play in any given moment.

 

 

 

If karma was a simple, linear process, everything would be certain, but it is not! There is always an element of uncertainty, which is a product of the ineffable matrix of interdependent interactions that are at play in any given moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Paramito Ladakh ~ 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by C T